An Interview with…Rosie Levene-Barry

Published: Wednesday July 05 2017 by Katie Borwick

White Cross Vets opened the doors to its state of the art Wolverhampton practice on Penn Road in November 2016. Since then, it’s popularity has led to the need to recruit 3 new team members – doubling its original number within 6 months of opening!

The newest team member is local vet Rosie Levene-Barry who joined the practice in June 2017 and brings with her over 10 years of experience. Rosie joins White Cross Vets from Wombourne and Gornal Vets.

Find out all about Rosie by reading our interview below. She looks forward to welcoming you and your pet to the Wolverhampton practice. Contact us to book an appointment with Rosie.

Rosie with Marmite

Where did you grow up?

I grew up between London and Majorca so I’m very much enjoying the warm weather that we are currently experiencing. I went to university in Bristol and eventually moved to Wolverhampton for a locum position which was supposed to last one month. I have now been in Wolverhampton for 10 years – the longest month of my life!

Do you have any pets?

I currently have 2 dogs (a lurcher cross and a staffordshire bull terrier cross) and 13 cats. My pets are my life. I’ve always grown up with lots of pets around me and I hope to have 30 cats when I’m retired and can look after them all!

When did you decide that you wanted to be a vet?

To be honest I think it was my first word! I know it sounds cliché but I don’t ever remember wanting to be anything else. A family friend who knew me as a child recently commented; “you’ve wanted to be a vet since my child wanted to be a fairy!”

You have to be mad! But in a good way. You need to have an undeniable passion for animals but coupled with that you need to enjoy scientific study and have an incredible drive to succeed. Being a vet is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

What would you advise a family who were choosing a pet?

You need to realise that with any pet you are committing until the end of their life. Research is key – identify the right species and breed that fits with your lifestyle and family arrangements.

What is the most memorable case you have ever had?

One of my clients bred her Labrador and ended up with 14 puppies! The client noticed that some of the puppies wouldn’t nurse. She brought them in to see me and I diagnosed them as having cleft palates. Usually, puppies diagnosed with this condition are euthanised as they wouldn’t be able to survive due to not being able to feed.

I knew that if the cleft palate could be fixed, the puppies had the potential to live happy and healthy lives. I told the client that if she wanted me to, I would try to perform corrective surgery. In the meantime, while we waited for them to be old enough for anaesthetic, they would have to be tube fed, which I taught her to do. She was eager to try the surgery and while we waited for the puppies to grow, I spoke with contacts who perform facial reconstruction surgery on humans to learn from these procedures.

Eventually, it was time for the surgery and I am very pleased to say that all 4 of the puppies recovered well and are now completely normal (albeit rather nutty) 3-year-old labs.

The case attracted a lot of attention – ITV caught wind of it and came to film a documentary which was aired. Since then I’ve had a number of other vets contact me for advice and even had a lady contact me from Canada asking if I could operate on her puppies!

Are you involved in any charity work?

For as long as I can remember, I have always been immersed in animal charity work. Ahead of becoming a vet, I volunteered at all sorts of rescue centres including Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and a charitable children’s city farm in London.

Since qualifying as a vet, I have continued to magnetise towards rescue work, rescuing dozens and dozens of abandoned pets and hand rearing and rehabilitating countless wildlife orphans and road casualties.

I undertook a lot of this work in my 'spare' time with two committed equally animal-mad friends. In 2012 we decided to form our own charity to get the word out and help even more.

And so, Raven’s Rescue was hatched and has gone from strength to strength rescuing and rehoming pets from all over the West Midlands. All the dogs and cats are suitably matched to foster homes where they can await rehoming without the stress of kenneling.

I have also helped in numerous local feral neutering programs to help the stray cat populations both in the UK and Mallorca.